


Bad Dreams (Are Better With You)

by xxxbookaholic



Series: Fantober Writing 2020 [4]
Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Can be seen as either romantic or platonic, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, it's not implied to be strictly either, just implied, no beta we die like men, nothing graphic in regard to the ptsd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26845582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxxbookaholic/pseuds/xxxbookaholic
Summary: One thing that differentiated him from a robot was that his heart was still full of empathy, while an AI’s was not.orGuy learns a few things about Azuma.
Relationships: Guy & Yukishiro Azuma, Guy/Yukishiro Azuma, Implied Hisoka/Homare
Series: Fantober Writing 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948714
Comments: 1
Kudos: 45





	Bad Dreams (Are Better With You)

**Author's Note:**

> Written For Fantober Day 5: Sleepover  
> the prompt was taken very, very loosely seeing as they're roommates but shhhh whatever

There weren’t many subjects Guy was bad at. For the most part, he was good with everything; language, grammar, math, science. He was practically an encyclopedia of knowledge, a college textbook that you could flip through for information on any topic.

If there was one subject he wasn’t confident in, however, it was emotions. He’d been taught to stay devoid of such things; knowing that, it was quite hard for him to understand other people, his age or otherwise.

That was why when Azuma sat up in bed, gasping for air and covered in sweat, the first thing Guy wanted to do was switch dorm rooms.

With just a quick look at the clock, he could decipher that it was four-thirty in the morning. _Way too early for someone like Azuma to be awake,_ he thought dumbly, looking between his roommate and his clock a few times before finally speaking up.

“Uh,” he said intelligently, eyebrows furrowed. “Are you,” he paused, swallowed, and then continued, “okay?”

Azuma whipped his head around to look at him, as if he hadn’t even realized someone else was around. ( _They’d been roommates for what, three months now? How could he forget that quickly_?)

They were both silent for a few seconds, save for Azuma’s still-heavy breathing. Then, he responded, “no.” It was like he’d been trying to figure out whether or not it was worth it to lie, and then decided against it.

“Oh.”

Guy shifted uncomfortably, still laying down with his blankets rolled over him neatly. Their beds were all the way across the room from each other. Somehow, the distance made it even more awkward, as if he was better off not even being around at all.

He remembered what Citron used to ask his brothers whenever they’d woken up like that, so he murmured, “do you want to talk about it?”

Azuma wasn’t clearly visible due to the lack of light. All Guy could make out was his outline in the inky darkness, still clutching at his blankets. Luckily, though, despite the lack of visual clarity, he just managed to make out Azuma’s nod.

Guy sat up slowly, as if any sudden movement would scare his roommate away.

“…Have I ever told you about my family?” Azuma asked, his voice just barely above a whisper. Guy wasn’t sure whether it was to make sure they didn’t wake anybody else up or some other reason.

Guy breathed out, “no.” He was completely still, not moving once he’d leaned back against the headboard.

Azuma was quiet for at least two minutes, looking like he was weighing his options, and then he started, “I grew up with my parents and an older brother. We were all happy together; it was the perfect life, especially compared to some other people in Mankai.”

Guy found, during the pauses where Azuma was silent, that he was holding his breath.

“It only lasted until I was young, though,” Azuma admitted. He looked down, “when I was about eleven, my family went out to run errands. I’d stayed behind. They didn’t come home for the rest of the day or not.” Despite his words, his voice was oddly still, as if he’d steeled himself before explaining. No amount of masking could hide the shake in his tone, though, just barely noticeable. “The next day, I learned they’d died in a car crash.”

Guy let out the breath he’d been holding. He hadn’t expected much better, especially not with a reaction like the one Azuma had, but it still felt like a shock.

“I keep remembering it,” Azuma whispered, his voice even lower than before. “The fear that they’d never come home, the feeling of abandonment.”

Guy nodded, fidgeting with his blankets nervously. He wasn’t really sure what to do after hearing that. _Should I apologize?_ He wondered, eyeing Azuma cautiously. Eventually, though, he decided against it. It wasn’t his fault, after all. Apologizing would do nothing to help.

So instead, he said the next thing that Citron used to whisper into the night, “can I do anything to help?”

They were both quiet for a little bit longer, Azuma audibly trying to steady his breathing and Guy trying to figure out what to do if his roommate doesn’t respond. Eventually, though, Azuma did respond.

“Can I hold you for a while?” He asked. Guy glanced over once more. It reminded him of when he’d first spent time with Azuma. When he’d first heard of his past jobs, he had thought it was just a ‘last resort’ type of occupation, or something of the sort. That night, though, he began to wonder if there was something more to it than just a simple coincidence.

“If it helps,” Guy breathed. He remained frozen on his bed for a second, still feeling stilted and completely out of his element, and then he thought, _screw it_. Guy slipped out of his blankets and made his way over to Azuma’s bed, careful not to step on the coloring books and mystery novels that had been thrown to the floor earlier that night, just before they’d gone to bed.

Azuma moved to the side, and Guy took the spot next to him, legs still over the covers. Then, as if they were the last people on earth, only having each other for comfort, Azuma wrapped his arms around his shoulder and took a shuddering breath.

With them being so close, Guy could notice the details that he hadn’t been able to all the way across the room. Azuma was shaking much more than he’d originally thought, and his breath was still stunted, even though he’d had more than enough time to relax since he’d woken up.

They were quiet for the next ten minutes or so, with Guy shifting to get more comfortable in Azuma’s embrace, and Azuma’s breathing slowly starting to quiet down. His heart was still beating rapidly, though, Guy noticed.

The scene heavily reminded him of a few weeks ago, when he’d walked into the living room to see Hisoka sleeping on the floor, which wasn’t an unusual occurrence. Hisoka would sleep just about anywhere he could find. Once, Guy had even found him sleeping on a bookshelf. One place that he hadn’t been aware Hisoka was comfortable sleeping, though, was on Homare’s lap.

At the time, it had been a shocking moment. Sleeping while leaning against someone else seemed like it would be uncomfortable, with all the joints and bones that humans had. (And it had to have been impossible to fully fall asleep with Homare there, talking about his new ideas for poetry as if Hisoka was awake to listen.)

Now, though, Guy realized that sleeping cuddled up to someone else wasn’t as awkward as he thought it would be. Sure, it made him feel unsure and out of place, but at the same time, it made him feel a little less alone, as if he could share all of his problems with Azuma without even having to utter a word.

“Thank you,” Azuma murmured, probably half asleep. His voice was cracked and it sounded more like he was choking out the words than anything, but it still made Guy relax. _He’s finally calming down,_ he thought, thankful. “I’m sorry for waking you up.”

Guy closed his eyes, leaning his forehead on his roommate’s shoulder. “It’s fine.”

He didn’t allow himself to sleep until Azuma’s breath was finally even and his heart rate was back to normal. When he fully calmed down, though, Guy sighed in relief and then nestled under the blankets.

One thing that differentiated him from a robot was that his heart was still full of empathy, while an AI’s was not.

He couldn’t help but think that this was one of the lessons Citron had wanted him to learn, all those years ago.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I really wanted to experiment with writing for Guy and Azuma, so I hope I did them justice! If you liked the fic, please leave kudos and/or a comment! It keeps me writing. If you want to keep up to date with my writing, you can check out my tumblr account (xxxbookaholic)
> 
> Have a nice rest of your day/night! <3


End file.
